I do not know that this mystery, which is still one to me, will hereafter be cleared up to my readers; but had my avowed principles been of a nature to bring upon me the treatment I received, I should sooner have become their victim, since the work in which these principles are manifested with most courage, not to call it audacity, seemed to have had its effect previous to my retreat to the Hermitage, without I will not only say my having received the least censure, but without any steps having been taken to prevent the publication of it in France, where it was sold as publicly as in Holland.
— from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

But now let us suppose that that selective agency of interested attention, which may thus convert impartial redintegration into partial association—let us suppose that it refines itself still further and accentuates a portion of the passing thought, so small as to be no longer the image of a concrete thing, but only of an abstract quality or property.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James

There is reason in supposing that the finest natures, when under alien conditions, receive more injury than the inferior, because the contrast is greater.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato

So that in all propositions that are assented to at first hearing, the terms of the proposition, their standing for such ideas, and the ideas themselves that they stand for, being neither of them innate, I would fain know what there is remaining in such propositions that is innate.
— from An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2 by John Locke

How then is it present that I remember it, since when present I cannot remember?
— from The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

Glaucon added, 'Yes, Socrates, and there is reason in spending the whole of life in such discussions; but pray, without more ado, tell us how this community is to be carried out, and how the interval between birth and education is to be filled up.'
— from The Republic by Plato

Every plant, even the smaller ones, curls and writhes to the green surface, twining itself round its stronger and taller brethren in the effort.
— from The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle

“I suppose we’ll have to get into the thick of it before we fully realize how terrible it really is,” said Nancy, sensing that their first real tests were not far off.
— from Nancy Dale, Army Nurse by Ruby Lorraine Radford

— What if their strength should equal not their fire, And their devotion dull their vigilance?— Uncertainly, by fits, the Will doth work In Brunswick's blood, their chief, as in themselves; It ramifies in streams that intermit And make their movement vague, old-fashioned, slow To foil the modern methods counterposed!
— from The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon by Thomas Hardy

She had not dared to speak to anyone, in a childish fear of being ridiculed; and the temptation to speak to Dick was so strong that in resisting it she became entirely silent, until Dick grew worried, and said finally, "Look here, Legs, old girl, are you really sure you want to come?" "Want to come?"
— from Dick Lester of Kurrajong by Mary Grant Bruce

Our science is not 202 merely a speculation of ultra-mundane truths, but rather a science of man and of man in the Universe, and therefore also of this nature which is dominated and spiritualised by becoming known, in the same way that every book that is read is spiritualised.
— from The Reform of Education by Giovanni Gentile

There is nothing which lies more within the Province of a Spectator than publick Shows and Diversions; and as among these there are none which can pretend to vie with those elegant Entertainments that are exhibited in our Theatres, I think it particularly incumbent on me to take Notice of every thing that is remarkable in such numerous and refined Assemblies.
— from The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 With Translations and Index for the Series by Steele, Richard, Sir

But the spectroscope shows another state of things: it reveals in some of these comets an incandescent gas—usually some of the combinations of carbon.
— from Recreations in Astronomy With Directions for Practical Experiments and Telescopic Work by Henry White Warren

The inland region is scarcely better.
— from Impressions of South Africa by Bryce, James Bryce, Viscount